Another One Cindirection Story (L.P.)

Chapter 2 - The Difference Between Old and New

Aubrey's POV

I ran the entire way home.

I turned the key and pushed the door in slowly.

No one was home. Perfect.

I felt myself relax a little. I was closing the door behind me when someone coughed behind me.

I whipped my head around, immediately tensing up. Layla, my stepmother, stood across from me with her arms crossed. I guess someone was home after all.

She snapped me out of my thoughts. "Aubrey, why are you not in school? You know what, don't answer. I don't really care. Anyways, now that you're here, I need you to go clean the girls' room. You haven't been keeping up with your chores. Honestly, I don't know why I keep you around." Her phone chimed and she started scrolling through it. She paid no mind to my puffy eyes and for once I was glad she didn't seem to notice.

"What about Owen's?" I asked.

"If you really like to clean that much, no one's stopping you." she said, placing her hands on her hips. "And while you're at it, clean my room, too. I can't find my purse. Come to think about it, I can't find the cat either." she added. Then her phone rang and she walked away, hissing more demands at the other person on the line.

I sighed, but got started. I needed as much time as possible to get started.

***

I looked at myself in the mirror.

I didn't look like myself. At all.

I wondered if that was a good thing.

I wondered what people would say about me now. If anything would change or if things would stay exactly the same. I didn't even know what I wanted.

The girl in the mirror stared back at me and I practiced a smile. Her lips lifted up and she looked almost... pretty. I stepped back and smoothed down my skirt. I looked like me yet not at all.

Aubrey didn't exist anymore and I was going to make sure that tomorrow would be the best thing that had ever happened to me.